Samsung’s AI robot Ballie paired with Google Cloud’s Gemini

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Google Cloud have announced an expanded partnership to bring Google Cloud’s generative AI technology to Ballie, a new home AI companion robot from Samsung. 

Available to consumers this Summer, Ballie will be able to engage in natural, conversational interactions to help users manage home environments, including adjusting lighting, greeting people at the door, personalizing schedules, setting reminders and more, according to a media release.

“Through this partnership, Samsung and Google Cloud are redefining the role of AI in the home,” said Yongjae Kim, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “By pairing Gemini’s powerful multimodal reasoning with Samsung’s AI capabilities in Ballie, we’re leveraging the power of open collaboration to unlock a new era of personalized AI companion — one that moves with users, anticipates their needs and interacts in more dynamic and meaningful ways than ever before.”

Ballie will use Gemini’s multimodal capabilities along with proprietary Samsung language models to process and understand a variety of inputs, including audio and voice, visual data from its camera and sensor data from its environment, the media release said. This will allow it to adapt its behaviors and responses in real-time.  

This partnership announcement builds on the successful integration last year of Gemini on Google Cloud into Samsung’s Galaxy S24 smartphone series. With Ballie, Samsung and Google Cloud are exploring how to bring their generative AI collaboration to a wider range of devices.

“With Gemini on Google Cloud, Samsung is demonstrating how to deploy generative AI at scale, integrating it directly into the heart of their popular products,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud. “This expanded partnership with Samsung underscores our commitment to delivering reliable, enterprise-grade AI that drives lasting value for our customers – and their customers.”